MVP finalist for the 2023 NFL season, Brock Purdy, has won 81 percent of his 21 career games and has for whatever reasons a reputation for overusing the “checkdown” in the 49ers’ passing game.
But that couldn’t be farther from the truth for San Francisco’s 24-year-old star quarterback.
Mason Cameron of Pro Football Focus detailed where all NFL quarterbacks rank in checkdown usage, and it’s safe to say Purdy’s detractors will not like the results.
Among all quarterbacks with a minimum of 300 dropbacks, Purdy ranked ninth-lowest in usage at 5.54 percent.
Ahead of the Iowa State product percentage-wise was, in order, Jacoby Brissett (5.44), Ryan Tannehill (5.12), C.J. Stroud (4.98), new 49ers backup Joshua Dobbs (4.63), reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson (4.59), Jalen Hurts (4.47), Marcus Mariota (3.92) and Trevor Lawrence (3.74).
New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russel Wilson took home the highest checkdown usage for the 2023 season at 10.19 percent and was followed by Taylor Heinicke (9.13) and Andy Dalton (9.00) to round out the league’s struggled trio.
Purdy clearly beats the checkdown allegations, but does his usage change when he faces third downs — one of the most common, stressful situations in football? Not really.
The first-time NFL Pro Bowl selection ranked 13th among quarterbacks with a minimum of 30 third-down dropbacks, only utilizing the checkdown five times (2.89 percent) out of 173 dropbacks. Purdy again narrowly finished behind rival stars Hurts (2.21 percent) and Jackson (2.55).
Jarrett Stidham and Skylar Thompson tied at zero percent to lead the league, while Tim Boyle used the third-down checkdown the most at 30 percent. None of them are leading any teams to a Super Bowl soon.
The Purdy haters must return to their tired drawing boards to find something else to knock the quarterback on.
Purdy, No. 1 on San Francisco’s all-time single-season passing yards list for his efforts this past season, keeps cooking.
